OK, jus wanted to clear sum stuff up that i've seen people saying on the site...i'm no expert by any means but i've made a good bit of fiberglass work.
now then. to get the outragous shape that is always desired, you have to think it up first. know what you want to put wherever you want to put it and at the angles you want to do it at....simple? if you want to have a custom box that will curve to the cars needs or hide over in a corner or w/e, take tape. simple masking tape works great, tape off the area and use trashbags for bigger areas, just to make sure there will be no excess resin dripping anywhere because it will not come off a freshly painted car. to do it that way, just lay some resin down, make sure its mixed with the hardner correctly or this will cause alot of anger. take the resin and slop it all over the area you want to do, i've found that fiberglass matt you can buy from your local auto store is alot stronger than the cloth, but not as smooth for a final finish...anyways, take that, go past the area you want to have the base for, make sure you have at least one layer of matting down, get it soaked in the resin as well, jus dabb it down with a paintbrush. wait however long it takes (depending on the weather) and when its dry your going to pull up the tape and the base part of whatever you made. pulll the tape off (suggest using gloves) and let that side cure, it is a chemical reaction but still needs air. from there, make your speaker ring, monitor ring, w/e, and position it to whever you want it to be, get some wodden dowels and hot glue (works great) trim the dowels to whatever length they need to be to get your ring at the right angle, and make sure its rather solid. NOW THEN. take fleece (works great and is cheap) and cover the front of the scructure to get that crazy look, if you dont like it you may need to add certain things to get the shape you really want. then slop on the resin. now you have your basic structure. from there after that drys just keep sloppin up the thing like its your girlfreinds face and add small peices of matting; using a paintbrush to get out any bubbles which will cause cracks, do that at least 3 layers problably more pending on how strong you need it. just a general rule i've been telling people that i've taught, make sure its strong enough to have sex on, if not it will crack under usual wear and tear and vibrations. then use whatever type of body filler you'd like to use, smooth it out, paint it or cover it or whatever. there ya go. usually if its a sub box, the weight of the thing on top of all ur components in there will keep it in place. if not u can reach in through a speaker hole and bolt it down.

i do have one quick question though, i've never done a door panel. i've done kickpanels and screwed them into the existing panel but i've been wanting to make a whole panel. if anyone has had experience with this maybe you can help...do you make the basic thing out of MDF or glass? and how do you bolt, screw, clip, whatever it to the door? if you make a whole panel and everything, the areas you need to screw it in would be covered up? do you need to make a mold of the back of the existing door panel and use the same plastic clip things? and just do it in 2 separate pieces and mold them together?

and if anyone has anymore questions dont hesitate to ask...no point in everyone screwin up as i have..

I plan on redoing the dash in my 1985 Pontiac Fiero GT. I was never a fan of the way the dash looked, so I designed quite a few different dashes on autocad. I plan on using fiberglass...but I have a few questions...

How much more would it cost and how much harder would it be to do the dash in carbon fiber as opposed to fiber glass?

How much would it cost me to do my dash in fiberglass? Should I make a wood frame and then do fleece over it to make it more sturdy?

This will be my first time fiberglassing. Also, I plan on integrating a GPS screen into the dash and getting rid of the map pocket and making an actual glove box. How hard do you think this would be? Also, I would need to plan out where all of the brakets would need to be for the instruments and controls to hook up to wouldn't I? Any help would be great, thanks.

door panels have the same basic prcedure...the reason the door panel you pictured above is cracked is not only because it isnt think enough to withstand the pressures of being opened and closed everyday, but this guy obviously didnt check to make sure the door panel cleared the dash when the door is closed. their are a buch of little thing that you have to think about before getting started...im not trying to say i know everything if thats what anyone is getting out of this im just saying that you have to think ahead and plan..all of these things can be prevented!!!

Yea this guy knows what he is talking about. I just have some things to add. First to simplify the process I recomend making the box in 2 sections (I have done this only for a box that the bottom isn't seen, even though im sure there is a way to do it for doorpanels... i just havent tried yet.) First just use a scrap piece of plywood for the base and completely cover it in masking tape. The blue painters tape works perfectly. Make sure to criss cross the layers to make sure no resin soaks through. Then if you want add a layer of aluminum foil and cover that in the same process with the tape. You will see why I do this in a second. Next cut a "ring" (the middle is cut out leaving the edge about 1 inch think) the shape of the bottom of your box. Cut your speaker rings that the subwoofer will be mounted to. Use 3/4 inch MDF. The speakers usually come with a template. If not the users manual will state the diameter of the hole. Also at this time you can cut a seperate ring to the outer diameter (only if you want the beveled look) Mount the ring(s) onto the pegs at the desired hieght and angle. At this time you should also build the rest of the framing now Make sure to construct a port if you want one. Remember ported enclosures always play about 3db louder. Use screws when attaching to the plywood, remember you willl not be using this piece. Then use a good strong glue to hold down the fleece, I prefer 3M, and stretch the 100% polyester fleece starting at the ring and working down getting the desired shape. Countinue wroking the flece all the way down past the base MDF ring and onto the taped up plywood. This is to insure uniform thickness. you will trim off this extra later. Now it is time to apply your resin. Use a paintbrush trimmed short. This helps with applying the resin. Use a dabbing/stabbing motion. This helps eliminate air bubbles which as we all know results in cracks. After doing this allow the resin to cure and then aplly a second coat, also using the stabbing motion. Now apply the first layer of mat to the outside of the box in 1/4 inch strips. Make sure to continue onto the plywood just like with your resin and fleece. This just makes it easier to work with. After letting that cure it is time to remove the temporary scrap plywood. Remove the screws and pull off the plywood. It should pop right off if you did your tape right. Use some sandpaper to remove any tape from the mdf ring and trim away the extra. Now for the reason why the box is in 2 parts. You can now flip your box upside down and apply fiberglass to the inside of your box. This makes it a lot less time consuming and a lot less messy. A good inch and a half of air bubble free matting will be good for any 1000 watt subwoofer. Add more matting if the power is higher. Now after letting that cure for a couple hours cut out the fleece and stray fiberglass/resin form the speaker hole and port (if you have one). Now for the bottom of the box just trace the base onto some 3/4 inch MDF and cut it out. Stack the box onto this cutout with glue inbetween. When the clue has cured cover the seam with silicone. The result will be an air tight box. Unless you have a port that is. If you would like you can use some spray adheasive and some polyfil stuffing to cover the inside edges of the box. This will stop and resonance or echo inside the box that decreases sound quality. Now just use kitty hair filler and regular body filler in that order to smooth out the exterior and then paint or cover your box. Drill a hole for the speaker wire and then seal it up around the hole and your done. After you install the sub of course.

Okay, there's some stuff i kinda want to bring up about some of this advice. I haven't fiberglassed a whole lot of car stuff, and I've never done anything that needed to be brought to a sandable paintable finish, however....I do shape a lot of surfboards and do a lot of board repairs, and this idea of just soaking fleece with resin doesn't sound sufficient. RESIN IS WEAK. All of the strength comes from the resin hardening into the hollow fiberglass filaments and keeping them rigid. That being said, fiberglass is prettttttty weak in a straight line, its gets much more strength from geometric shapes where there are angles of pressure balancing each other out. Case in point, on a surfboard the deck will crush after prolonged use, but the rails of the board which are rounded hardly ever get dings or dents. What I would suggest that you do if you're planning on such extensive glasswork is to find an online wholesaler and buy some light to medium weight chopped fiberglass mat. Also buy SEVERAL gallons of polyester resin and catalyst. By several I'm gonna say you probably need north of 10 gallons for your sub box center console and dashboard. As far as retaining stock mounting points you really just need to accurately measure where your mounting points are and make flanges which you can then drill holes through to mount your pieces. Now, as for fabrication: Use masking tape and cover your entire dash and center console areas and your sub box area where they will be against the floor/firewall/whatever . Use A LOT of masking tape then cover with Tin Foil (for a release agent)so you don't leak resin all over your car. Then tear, not cut pieces of glass mat off and soak them in resin and fit into place. Do this for a couple of layers 'til your pieces are nice and thick and have no air bubbles in them. Let them dry and then remove them from the car. Keep adding layers two at a time until there is enough glass to keep the structure rigid. This is especially important for the sub box since it's going to have speakers causing heavy vibration in it. This is when you use the fleece and resin. Stretch fleece over your glass using wooden dowels glued with a hot melt glue gun to create the nice sweeping curves wherever you need them for your pieces. At this point you should have a glass shell for a backing with fleece stretched over what will be the visible parts (if that makes sense...hard to explain without a picture). This is when you soak the fleece completely and then use the same process of dabbing glass mat into place. Make sure there are no air bubbles and that all the fleece is saturated. Let that dry to rigid then repeat the steps of adding more layers until you are confident that your pieces are thick enough to not crack. This is probably a good time to check if your flanges that you've fabbed are thick enough before bondo-ing. Then you can take regular ol' bondo and fill in everthing until sandable and finally sand down with fine grit sand paper until smooth. Then prime and paint. For the sub box you need speaker rings of some MDF board to make your own. Your best bet if it's an under the seat box is actually an MDF (medium density fiberboard) box with a fiberglass back/bottom. If you want to do full fiberglass it's going to be the same as the dash/console only you're going to use a jig saw to cut rings the minimum diameter of your basket clearance (inside of ring measurement) +1" (outside of ring) and "float them from the fiberglass shell using wooden dowels then stretch the fleece over and do the same glassing technique then using a saw to cut out the speaker hole. If you want a flush mounted speaker you need to make a second speaker ring out of MDF the size of the speaker (full mount area) on the inside +1" for the outside measurement. Then glue the two together with woodglue so that when you sit the speaker in the rings that fabric will be bonded to the larger ring with the speaker sitting on the recessed ring thus making it flush with the outside of the box. If you go for MDF enclosures with the glass back just resin the glass back to the side pieces of of your fabbed box and for top mount speaker holes just cut to the min basket clearance. If you want flush mounts cut holes the size of the speaker in the top piece of the box and mount the smaller ring on the back of the "lid". Make sure to use a good sealing caulk on all seams and wood glue and finish nail/screw the MDF together to keep it air tight. Also keep in mind that you need to either run the wire through the box somewhere which needs to be caulked air tight or you need to install a lead plate on the box somewhere which needs to be screwed and caulked. As far as displacement testing a very easy method is to use packing peanuts or even sand if you cant find any...frozen peas really (peanuts are just the least messy and most convienent) and use a 1cf box and just fill it up and dump it in to your box to check if your box has the desired volume. I would suggest carpeting an under the seat box as little or none of it is going to be showing so paint is just wasted time and effort. For a really professional stealth install go to the salvage yard and rip the carpet out of your same make and model vehicle that way when you carpet your box it will match your OEM carpet exactly. Sorry for the HUGE post but I had to search EVERYWHERE for good info for my projects just thought I'd share.

Creativity, design talent and just TAKING YOUR TIME AND THINKING IT THROUGH will really help you with this project.

For a dash I would def say that a light wood frame with fleece and glass mat would work fine. Honestly, if you want to retain all your mounting points get creative. Try cutting the mounts out of the old dash and glassing them into the new dash. Just make sure its nice and thick so they don't break off, but that should solve the problem of threading and sizing and everything else. For door panels you could try the same thing for the mounts but i think for the panel you're gonna wanna use glass with masking tape/tinfoil to make a mold of the basic shape and then use fleece and some mdf or dowels to build your custom curves. As far as your wire hookups yeah you're gonna have to figure that out. I would say glass, cut out your holes for switches and if using stock stuff, bondo that in then paint the whole thing with that just taped over but that's not my specialty You can always place stuff after your glass before your bondo since your opinion might change on what loc looks good once the piece is finished. Just a drill bit and a jigsaw and you've got a mounting hole (then do your bondo afterwards and your mount edges will be nice and smooth.)

The fleece idea is a good one and works very well. You can either make your base from a wood structure or foam. If you make it out of wood the wood structure must be covered with something like plastic packaging tape to keep the resin from bonding to the underlying structure. If you use foam, it must be a foam that polyester resin will not attack. Dow makes a blue foam that is primarily used to insulate pipes in refineries, it goes by the name of Trymer. It sands extremely well and can be shaped into any form. It allows you to make flowing lines and such. Once you have your shape formed then you cut a piece of glass cloth roughly the size of the shape you are going to cover. Spray both the foam form and one side of the cloth with a good grade of contact adhesive. Do not use 3M #77 as the resin will interact with that adhesive. Then the cloth can be placed on the form and it will adhere to the curves and smooth out very well. The contact adhesive will not affect the resin at all. Once it has cured you can either leave the foam form or dig it out. You may have to apply more than one layer of cloth depending on what weight cloth you use. Smooth it out with body filler and paint as desired.

I do shape a lot of surfboards and do a lot of board repairs, and this idea of just soaking fleece with resin doesn't sound sufficient. RESIN IS WEAK. All of the strength comes from the resin hardening into the hollow fiberglass filaments and keeping them rigid.

Your point is well taken, and I don't think anyone would disagree with you on this. However, you have to remember that most of what people are suggesting you use the fleece and resin method on are cosmetic pieces. They're not structural panels. I don't think anybody is advocating the use of fleece for things like body panels or structural supports.

The surfboards you make and repair are subject to a lot of stress - i.e. the weight of the rider, the beating it takes from the waves, being drug through the sand, etc… The fiberglass makes up the rigid structure around the foam core of the board, and it needs to be strong enough to resist these outside forces to maintain its structural integrity and still perform well.

The average speaker enclosure, console, or dash cover isn't subject to those kinds of abuses, and any kind of failure of the fiberglass would be cosmetic only, and wouldn't effect the structure or safety of the vehicle.

Also, please remember that in the examples I've seen, the fleece is almost always just a cover over a separate structure. In the case of speaker enclosures, the main structure is usually MDF and hardwood dowel. The fleece is just a cosmetic cover for paint or some sort of fabric cover to be applied to. In newer cars these components come from the factory made from 1/16th to 1/8th inch thick plastics. It's not a part of the actual structure, so it doesn't have to be that strong.

Having said that, however, I agree with you that just soaking some cheap fleece with a bit of resin and making an entire dashboard out of it probably isn't the way to go. The fleece and resin method should be reserved for cosmetic trim pieces that only need to maintain their own shape and structural integrity - i.e. consoles, speaker enclosures, door panels, etc… Anything that is subject to stress should be made of several layers of fiberglass cloth or mat, and reinforced with a substructure of some kind.

hello i am making a fiberglass dash that looks like this one on the link, but my question is how do i make that shaped around the gauges i was wondering if there is something you can buy to make them flare like that or what i could make them out of????

Hello everybody. I'm new to this site and I was directed here from another site cause I was looking for help in my quest to make custom fiberglass door panels for my Bronco. Could anyone help me out as far as telling me what materials I need, the cheapest place to get said materials and directions to accomplish my goals?

I appreciate any suggestions, directions and guidance given. Thanks for your time....

You will get a lot of good info here, but my suggestion would be to go to Fiberglass Forums and ask the same question there. Here's a link for you:CLICK HERE You need to register before you can see any of the posts or post a question.

__________________
__________________________________

No one lives forever, the trick is creating something that will.
__________________________________

kristkustoms, I usually don’t post on sites like this; but I couldn’t pass this one up. In your reply (or correction) to traviss10_999 post, in which you complain about his writing prowess you use the wrong inflected form of bad. “Im not trying to be a jerk, but I think that was the worse spelling and grammar that ever went into a post. “

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the Hot Rod Forum : Hotrodders Bulletin Board forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name (usually not your first and last name), your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

Insurance

Please select your insurance company (Optional)

Log-in

User Name

Remember Me?

Password

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.